The Jacksonville Jaguars blew the doors off the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in a 24-0 shutout victory.
The Colts have an odd history of losing road games against the Jaguars, but few expected this kind of domination in Week 2. Jacksonville intercepted Matt Ryan on the opening drive of the game, drove down the field for a touchdown drive on the ensuing possession, and never looked back.
With the victory, the Jaguars are now 1-1 and will be atop the AFC South standings if the Houston Texans are unable to win on the road against the Denver Broncos later Sunday.
Jaguars MVP of the game: Trevor Lawrence
If the Jaguars can get that kind of performance out of Lawrence on a weekly basis, they have a star on their hands. The 2021 No. 1 pick was efficient, made quick decisions, didn’t put the ball in much danger, and took a few chances down the field when they presented themselves.
Had Jamal Agnew managed to haul in a perfectly lofted deep ball just before halftime, it could’ve been an even bigger day for Lawrence.
Lawrence ended the game 25-of-30 passing for 235 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 121.5 passer rating.
Colts MVP of the game: Uhh… Grover Stewart?
The Indianapolis offense didn’t do anything and its defense couldn’t stop the Jaguars. The only thing that was even a little difficult for Jacksonville was running the ball, mostly because defensive tackle Grover Stewart was giving rookie center Luke Fortner problems.
Jaguars play of the game: James Robinson’s 37-yard touchdown run
James Robinson goes 37 yards for the @Jaguars TD! #DUUUVAL
📺: #INDvsJAX on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/9Dbwnh03KL pic.twitter.com/NsXpgxzowv— NFL (@NFL) September 18, 2022
For the most part, the Jaguars dinked and dunked up and down the field with short and intermediate pass plays. They also didn’t find much running room outside of Robinson’s breakaway run for a 37-yard touchdown, the longest of his career.
It was over when: the Jaguars ate up the third quarter with a 12-play, 92-yard touchdown drive
A 17-0 lead at halftime felt awfully safe, especially after the Colts punted on their first drive of the second half. But the final nail in the coffin was the Jaguars’ dominating second half drive that lasted for more than half of the third quarter.
It ended with the Jaguars going for it on fourth-and-short near the goal line and Lawrence passing to Christian Kirk for his second touchdown of the day.
Stat that says it all: Jaguars five sacks, Colts zero sacks
There are plenty of stats to choose from in this one-sided box score. The total yards discrepancy, the four takeaways for the Jaguars, and Jacksonville more than doubling up the Colts in first downs all were easy choices for this too. But much of the game was defined by Matt Ryan getting hit over and over by the Jaguars pass rush, while Lawrence stayed clean all day.
Up next: The Jaguars will travel to play the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Jacksonville is 0-5 all-time in road games against the Chargers with four of those losses coming while the team was still in San Diego.
On Thursday, the Chargers lost to the Chiefs and quarterback Justin Herbert suffered a rib cartilage fracture. His status for Week 3 has not yet been determined.